What's the fastest external SSD/enclosure or with RAID?

[lestat]

Hi,

 

I am looking for the fastest external SSDs ideally with pci-e with thunderbolt connection and multiple drives with RAID. Does this exist?

 

1. Fastest/pci-e 4

2. Largest capacity

3. RAID

4. Not very large physically as I am mobile somewhat

 

Thanks in advance.

[Electronics Wizardy]

I dont think gen 4 will matter here, as thunderbolt is gen 3 only currently.

 

Why not get a adapter like one of these https://www.amazon.com/nvme-thunderbolt-3-enclosure/s?k=nvme+thunderbolt+3+enclosure, and then a m.2 nvme ssd. 

 

What system are you plugging into the drive? what are you storing on it?

[emosun]

could make a backpane of pci-e ssd's but there goes your somewhat portability 

[Drama Lama]

15 minutes ago, lestat said:

1. Fastest/pci-e 4

I don’t think you‘d need that

[lestat]

14 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

I dont think gen 4 will matter here, as thunderbolt is gen 3 only currently.

 

Why not get a adapter like one of these https://www.amazon.com/nvme-thunderbolt-3-enclosure/s?k=nvme+thunderbolt+3+enclosure, and then a m.2 nvme ssd. 

 

What system are you plugging into the drive? what are you storing on it?

I wonder why they dont have gen 4 enclosures, due to thunderbolt? But TB3 can still max out a pci-e 4 SSD right?

 

I am using one like you linked but I need some kind of RAID also if possible for faster read/write.

 

I am using the drive with my laptop. Storage wise large simulation cache files. Something like this: 

 

 

8 minutes ago, emosun said:

could make a backpane of pci-e ssd's but there goes your somewhat portability 

That can be connected to a laptop?

6 minutes ago, Drama Lama said:

I don’t think you‘d need that

Why?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, lestat said:

wonder why they dont have gen 4 enclosures, due to thunderbolt? But TB3 can still max out a pci-e 4 SSD right?

thunderbolt is gen 3 x4 max, no gen 4 support

 

Just now, lestat said:

I am using one like you linked but I need some kind of RAID also if possible for faster read/write.

 

well your limited by the interface, so raid on the device side won't matter. What bandwidth and iops do you need?

 

1 minute ago, lestat said:

I am using the drive with my laptop. Storage wise large simulation cache files. Something like this: 

 

What laptop?

 

If your goal is cache files, id just put a faster internet m.2 ssd in the laptop.

[schwellmo92]

The best you can get is a TB3 enclosure with a really fast NVMe drive inside but you are limited to PCI-E 3.0 x4 (so about 3.5GB/s as long as the drive you install is decent).

[emosun]

11 minutes ago, lestat said:

That can be connected to a laptop?

no course not , but the op post says nothing about a laptop so I don't really feel bad about having recommended it at the time

 

[Drama Lama]

17 minutes ago, lestat said:

Why?

Thunderbolt 3 in it’s fastest form ( 40 gigabit per second) is under ideal conditions as fast as 4 PCIe gen 3 lanes and a gen 4 ssd would therefore make little sense to use

[lestat]

18 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

thunderbolt is gen 3 x4 max, no gen 4 support

 

well your limited by the interface, so raid on the device side won't matter. What bandwidth and iops do you need?

 

What laptop?

 

If your goal is cache files, id just put a faster internet m.2 ssd in the laptop.

As fast as possible so 5GB/s would be good at least that's why I was looking for some alternatives.

Laptop is Asus Studiobook Pro 17.

I will check the speed of the internal SSD.

14 minutes ago, schwellmo92 said:

The best you can get is a TB3 enclosure with a really fast NVMe drive inside but you are limited to PCI-E 3.0 x4 (so about 3.5GB/s as long as the drive you install is decent).

Any recommendations? You mean for a single nvme inside right?

I saw nestor but that seems like it's not available. I guess the ones with multiple nvmes inside are still limited in speed of a single ssd.

 

  

1 minute ago, Drama Lama said:

Thunderbolt 3 in it’s fastest form ( 40 gigabit per second) is under ideal conditions as fast as 4 PCIe gen 3 lanes and a gen 4 ssd would therefore make little sense to use

 

how can I max out TB3 speeds externally? That's all I need basically for now.

[Electronics Wizardy]

3 hours ago, lestat said:

As fast as possible so 5GB/s would be good at least that's why I was looking for some alternatives.

Laptop is Asus Studiobook Pro 17.

I will check the speed of the internal SSD.

Internal nvme will be a faster solution, thunderbolt has some overhead, and will be more expensive swell as you need the enclosure.

 

3 hours ago, lestat said:

how can I max out TB3 speeds externally? That's all I need basically for now.

Get a thunderbolt to m.2 adatper, and put a higherend nvme drive in it like a 970 evo, sn750 or others.

[lestat]

Thanks I will check this. I am not sure if my laptop has 2 slots (I think so), but I just checked the internal SSDs speed and it was almost 2.6GB for read and 1.75GB for write so I guess this is not bad.

 

So I will try to install to the second slot if available.

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, lestat said:

Thanks I will check this. I am not sure if my laptop has 2 slots (I think so), but I just checked the internal SSDs speed and it was almost 2.6GB for read and 1.75GB for write so I guess this is not bad.

 

So I will try to install to the second slot if available.

What model of ssd is in your laptop?

 

You likely can't get much faster than your included drive via thunderbolt.

 

You might need to go optane to get much faster for cache files, optane does really well for this workload. 

[lestat]

It shows up as this SSD:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-PM981-Polaris-Solid-MZVLB1T0HALR-00000/dp/B07BPYDNVJ

 

 

[lestat]

Also I have this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07864XY8B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Using it with a usb-c enclosure. The speed tests showed about 500MB/s. So if I use the above nvme enclosure I can get up to 2.5/3.5GB/s just like an internal nvme?

[Electronics Wizardy]

10 minutes ago, lestat said:

Also I have this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07864XY8B/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Using it with a usb-c enclosure. The speed tests showed about 500MB/s. So if I use the above nvme enclosure I can get up to 2.5/3.5GB/s just like an internal nvme?

You need a m.2 nvme drive to get those speeds, thats about the limit for sata drives.

 

3 hours ago, lestat said:

It shows up as this SSD:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-PM981-Polaris-Solid-MZVLB1T0HALR-00000/dp/B07BPYDNVJ

 

 

yea thats pretty fast, you aren't gettingany faster over tb3.

 

How big do you need your external ssd?

 

If you really need a super fast cache drive, id really try to get a desktop as laptops are pretty limited with storage.

[lestat]

Thanks a lot. Minimum 4tb but 8tb would be nice though quite expensive. The idea is to store temporary caches to read and write faster, but after the project is done, clear the drive completely.

 

I was thinking of internal nvme, but the issue is I am also consulting this company so I am able to use their other laptops, some of which only have 1 nvme slot, and beyond that I am not allowed to open it up.

 

That's why I am looking for external storage for fast caching.

 

Here is more tests about caching:

Optimizing on the software side helps a lot also.

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 minutes ago, lestat said:

Thanks a lot. Minimum 4tb but 8tb would be nice though quite expensive. The idea is to store temporary caches to read and write faster, but after the project is done, clear the drive completely.

 

I was thinking of internal nvme, but the issue is I am also consulting this company so I am able to use their other laptops, some of which only have 1 nvme slot, and beyond that I am not allowed to open it up.

 

That's why I am looking for external storage for fast caching.

 

Here is more tests about caching:

Optimizing on the software side helps a lot also.

 

 

Id get a seprate drive for cache and projects.

 

Optane will smoke any other ssd in terms of performance, many times faster than even a top of the line nand drive.

 

Otherwise those thunderbolt 3 enclosures are as fast as you get can get.

[lestat]

But optane is only possible for desktops right? I was checking its speed but if I remember correctly it was around 1GB/s? I thought they are outdated by nvme drives.

 

On top of this, can I use gen 4 nvme with TB3? Would it be compatible coz even though I will still be cappted by TB3 speeds, the price difference is not a lot and that way I would be more future proof:

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Internal-Maximum-Performance-SB-RKTQ4-4TB/dp/B08D28X4HW/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=nvme+4tb&qid=1605250455&refinements=p_n_feature_three_browse-bin%3A6797522011&rnid=6797515011&s=pc&sr=1-3

 

vs

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Rocket-Internal-Performance-SB-RKTQ-4TB/dp/B087N7HLRV/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=nvme+4tb&qid=1605250455&refinements=p_n_feature_three_browse-bin%3A6797522011&rnid=6797515011&s=pc&sr=1-4

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

15 minutes ago, lestat said:

But optane is only possible for desktops right? I was checking its speed but if I remember correctly it was around 1GB/s? I thought they are outdated by nvme drives.

You can get optane m.2 drives, but there pretty small for the 800p, or the 905p m.2 is a 22110 drive and needs cooling

 

The sequentical speeds won't matter here, its all about random io, where optane smokes every nand drive. Look at the ltt video here using the program your using, over 2x faster than a 960 pro.

And those drives get about 3gB/s sequentical, so not slow there either.

 

15 minutes ago, lestat said:

On top of this, can I use gen 4 nvme with TB3? Would it be compatible coz even though I will still be cappted by TB3 speeds, the price difference is not a lot and that way I would be more future proof:

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Internal-Maximum-Performance-SB-RKTQ4-4TB/dp/B08D28X4HW/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=nvme+4tb&qid=1605250455&refinements=p_n_feature_three_browse-bin%3A6797522011&rnid=6797515011&s=pc&sr=1-3

It will work, but will make no difference, a good gen 3 drive will likely be faster aswell. I don't think sequential speeds matter here, its all about random io.

 

Also those are both qlc drives, so the performance will tank after sustained use, like about 270mB/s sustained write speeds after the SLC cache is used up. That cache will also be much smaller if the drive isn't empty.

 

[lestat]

Thanks a lot. Which nvme drives would you recommend if not QLC?

 

I will check the LTT video now.

[Electronics Wizardy]

6 minutes ago, lestat said:

Thanks a lot. Which nvme drives would you recommend if not QLC?

 

I will check the LTT video now.

There really aren't any other drives that are 8TB, at that size, id just get multiple drives. Or really just archive projects to a nas, I doubt your working projects are that big.

 

There arelly aren't too many options for 4tb m.2 drives, the rocket non q isn't a bad bet.

 

[lestat]

Yes I was thinking 8tb for a bit of head room and also store some crucial project files about 1.5TB so I dont keep multiple drives.

 

This one is TLC also right?

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Rocket-Internal-Performance-SB-ROCKET-4TB/dp/B07ZQSDQDB

 

Some websites say 3d nand is the better tech over TLC?

 

I will do more search.

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, lestat said:

Yes I was thinking 8tb for a bit of head room and also store some crucial project files about 1.5TB so I dont keep multiple drives.

 

This one is TLC also right?

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Rocket-Internal-Performance-SB-ROCKET-4TB/dp/B07ZQSDQDB

 

I will do more search.

yup thats a tlc drive.

 

Id really try to seperate out your projects to different drives then, can't get over 4tb in m.2 now.

 

THe other other solutions is to get a thunderbolt to pcie to u.2 or pcie slot. Then you can get server grade drives, there they get much bigger(30tb+). There also not too price if you don't mind used drives.

[lestat]

Thanks a lot, yes you are right, that makes sense.

  

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

THe other other solutions is to get a thunderbolt to pcie to u.2 or pcie slot. Then you can get server grade drives, there they get much bigger(30tb+). There also not too price if you don't mind used drives.

 

Do you have any link to a product like that? Is it a card or a NAS like storage device?